Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

A Want, Need or Desire (WND)

A character’s Want, Need or Desire.

I wrote a lecture yesterday for my new course….The Exploratory Writing Workshop and since WDC is a place where people write I think I will share some of the things going through my head.

Yesterday I talked about a character’s problem. That they can have superficial problems and deep seated ones. A story is about how a CC deals with them. Also that the hidden problems are powerful motive forces. How they lurk in the back story and how the difference between truth and facade creates friction and how a Consumer of Literature (COL) gets caught up in it.

Today the discussion will shift to a character’s want need or desire (WND). Maybe some of you remember the famous song from the Musical, “All I want is a room somewhere….” Well the reader or audience is also very interested in what this “WANT” is. This is what propels the central character along the surface of the story and the undertow that swirls beneath. Actually It doesn’t really matter what that compelling need is or even if it isn’t in someone’s best interests. It is their passion, a motive force that gets them up in the morning and energizes the day, drawing them towards some conscious or unconscious goal. There is nothing really Freudian about a WND. It is what the CC will show you in a heart beat, wears on their sleeve or is stuffed up it…. It is the thing they are angling for and are determined to have happen.

This does not have to be a physical need….it can be spiritual or emotional. it's a compelling drive to get off your butt and do something to make things better in life, a desire to get out of that rut a person gets stuck in. The reader is waiting…this is the drama…will the CC get what they want?

After you have a Central Character in mind and the reader catches a glimmer of their problem, (superficial or underlying) you want to show what motivates them. A WND that is unfulfilled is a powerful force, it is a clash between expectation and reality and the reader perks up when they see it. Oh my goodness gracious, they say to themselves, something exciting is getting ready to happen. This realization is frequently a precursor to all the crisis that will soon rise in opposition to CC’s attempt to get life back on track. We’ll spend three weeks dealing with all these roadblocks, that rear their heads in opposition, but first, the writer needs to show the WND and some of the resources the CC has at their disposal… the strength of their will, persistence and commitment being high on the list.

A story is about frustration, conflict and turmoil. The CC has this compelling drive to do something that is being constantly thwarted. The CC’s will is the irresistible force and all those crisis become the seemingly immovable objects. The two collide in a crash that keeps the reader riveted into the story.

In Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara wants her sister’s fiancé. She needs to make sure “…I’ll never go hungry again,“ and has a big time desire for Ashley Wilkes. “Oh my Gosh….Poor Melody…..Sue Ellen, or anyone who stands between Scarlet’ and her wants needs or desires. Margret Mitchell write her classic and gave new meaning to the WND component of storytelling. It’s the grist of a good tale and the sooner the audience realizes it the sooner they will form an attachment to the CC. And that is exactly what the writer is trying to achieve…that emotional attachment, that latching on between the reader or audience. The writer needs to get the consumer spun up and emotionally involved. .. To develop that vicarious attachment, so they become as deeply committed as the CC is.

The central character is also the point of view (POV) character. The story being told is being conveyed through the eyes of the CC. The CC is who the work is about and the motive force behind the story. So early on the writer needs to get busy about what the (WND) is and if this is something the writer fees passionately and can communicate through experience, so much the better. Think about most every unforgettable story you ever saw or read. You can bet the CC had a bee in their bonnet or an axe to grind; And the consumers soon discovered it was something they could relate to and find some sympathy for.